How To Manage The Important Pre-Diet Diet

Suddenly starting a diet can be a substantial shock to the system and considerably reduce your chances of success. Get it right first time by creating a Pre-Diet diet to get used to healthy eating and diet ideas then, when the day comes to start, you will sail smoothly into your diet and never look back. Dieting can be a considerable shock to the system, especially if this is a first time, and that is why many people never get past the first week.

To help prepare you and your body here are five quick and easy tips to get you ready to take on a diet. Try them for a month and at the end of the month get ready to start your diet. The tips will suit most diets but are not suitable for a low carb 'Atkins' or 'South Beach' type diet. BreakfastThis is the most important tip, eat something for breakfast and it is better if the breakfast is a good one.

Most diets insist on a proper breakfast and so it is a habit you will need to get into. If you already have a breakfast then check the diet, make any changes and just carry on. If you have not chosen your diet yet, just have a bowl of cereal and a glass of juice or, if you want something more substantial, try grilled bacon and reduced-sugar baked beans on wholemeal toast.

If you read that and thought: "No, I've tried breakfast and it's just not for me," make a slight concession and eat a banana first thing and maybe have a cup of tea. Bananas are easy to eat, highly nutritious and will usually make you hungry soon after eating. The most important thing is that it is a start and you will soon find that you are ready for food in the morning. Five-a-dayYou know the recommendation, we should all eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day but five portions is a minimum.

If you don't eat this much already (or if you don't know how much you eat) this can sound a lot but try and get up to speed with this as soon as you can. When you are there, or if you already eat this much, try to increase this to seven or more portions. To help you, you can take advantage of the tremendous snackability of most fruit.

They are tasty, fun and quick to prepare, so keep some fruit ready to eat in the fridge so that they are the first thing you see as you open the door. As well as this, have a bowl of dried fruit not too far away, as I do, for a tasty snack and, for top health, add a few nuts to the fruit.

Most diets (but not Atkins style low-carb diets) recommend large amounts of fruit and vegetables and it is sometimes hard to suddenly subject your body to this so increasing vegetables like this will help prepare your body for most diets. The whole of the grainYou have heard it all before: throw out the white and only eat brown! So eat plenty of wholemeal rice, wholemeal pasta, wholemeal bread and brown potatoes. Yes, that is my name for potatoes cooked with their skin because a lot of nutrient is trapped just below the skin and peeling tends to remove it.

Don't worry, by the way, if you have heard that wholegrains are fattening. What is fattening is eating too many calories, wholemeal food in a diet is highly nutritious and an important staple. If you are not sure how much to serve, try covering a third of the plate with pasta or rice or potatoes and leaving a third (plus a little) for vegetables and whatever is left for chicken or fish.

Don't be a sweetieYes, it is hard to cut down on sweet things but we all know that they are loaded to the hilt with calories so you will have to make an effort. All diets (Atkins's diets included) will not let you eat candies and chocolate and a whole host of other things so now is the time to get your body used to not eating sugar.

One point though: fruits and vegetables that have been dried must be kept dry or they will deteriorate rapidly. Dried fruits are best stored when packed into air-tight containers such as jars, cans, or crocks. Sprinkle each layer with sugar and add another layer until the container is full. I've kept fruit this way for as long as six years without spoilage.